The Quiet
by Ali T
Summary: Paige accidently disturbs the The Silence and so is transformed into a member of The Quiet, magical beings whose destiny is more important than even the Charmed Ones. Can her sisters return her to them or is the Power of Three no longer?
1. Prologue

**The Quiet**

**Alison Hilary Tesh**

The moonlight shown through the small attic window, spreading silver light over the wooden floor, casting long eerie shadows. Paige moved slowly through the room, so different to how it seemed in the day, the light making it seem as though it was only half-there, not wholly real. What had woken her up she wasn't sure, except that she had felt an overwhelming need to go to the attic and look in the Book. She always trusted her instinct. As she had entered the room the shadows had watched her, the pale figure in white moving silently across the hoary space. She came to the open Book and noticed with slight surprise that it was open to a blank page; destined to be filled with future spells and potions, destined to be filled in accordance with her destiny, destined to be filled for future generations of witches. She breathed, reveling in the peace of the house, with the deep tick-tock of the old grandfather clock floors below her being the only sound in the silence.

The unnatural silence. Unnatural maybe because she was used to a house full of noise, of laughter and action, of movement and life. But still.....

Paige felt the sudden need to shout, to break the silence, to wake her sisters, but she couldn't find the voice to, feeling as though she had no right to shatter the blanket of quiet. A movement in the shadows caught her eye, and turning she froze in shock. _No... _For there in a puddle of light, in the space she had walked across not five minutes ago, was a figure, lying as though thrown to the floor, the instantly recognisable long dark hair hiding her face. But Paige couldn't move, couldn't find the inner energy to move towards her sister... And as she stood there, captured by the moonlight, she saw the open Book of Shadows again, the empty page no longer blank but headed with the words... _The Silence_


	2. Transformation

The sunlight greeted Paige, who slowly opened her eyes and found herself in her bright and airy room in the Manor. Safe. There was her new top hanging on her wardrobe, her shoes where she left them on the floor last night after coming in from P3, everything just as she had left it. The world was full of colour and life. But to Paige the memories of the night before dulled the colours, sucked the life out of the picture. Even though she could hear Piper and Phoebe talking downstairs, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong. It had been too real to be just a bad dream. She didn't have the power of premonition. So what had happened?

As soon as she had checked in on her sisters at breakfast - reassuring herself that Piper was in fact alive and well - she slipped into the attic, so completely different to the night before. Perhaps it had all been a dream, perhaps she was worrying about nothing. But as she came to the open Book her hands shook and her heart stopped. For there was proof the previous night's events had occurred. There was the same heading on the page that had mysteriously appeared in the moonlight, and as Paige looked up to the empty space where she had seen her sister the room went dark...

It was a pitch black, so dark that Paige couldn't even see her hands; her eyes never adjusted to the lack of light. And she didn't feel stable; she wasn't convinced that there was ground beneath her feet. Slowly, slowly, so slowly that she wasn't even sure that she was seeing what she thought she was seeing small pin-pricks of light began to appear around her, calling her, stretching out in the darkness as though for eternity. And the faintest possible strain of music in the background, like a flute, only softer, rippling through arpeggios.  
  
The sudden realisation that she was floating through stars and that there was indeed nothing beneath her panicked her. The music suddenly lost its smooth melodious style and turned jagged and sharp, filled with accidentals; double sharps and chords that didn't fit. Paige forced herself to breath, and as she calmed her heart beat, so the music calmed, louder than it was before but no longer full of panic. _Am I controlling it?_ she thought _How could I be?_ Paige purposefully thought violent thoughts, about the demon she and her sisters had vanquished last week and was strangely satisfied to hear the music respond the deep percussion, the clash of symbols and the victorious sounds growing around her, as tangible as the silence had been the night before....  
  
_"Paige? Paige, where are you?"_  
  
Paige heard Phoebe's voice as though far, far away. Forcing herself to concentrate on it she felt as though she was being pulled away from the stars, the music getting faster and faster until  
  
It stopped. And she found herself stood once again in front of the Book of Shadows. Hearing Phoebe shout again, Paige orbed herself downstairs into the living room and was greeting by a gasp from her older sister. For Paige now shone with a silver light that seemed to radiate from her, her hair was now as black as ebony and hung down to the small of her back and her skin translucent and luminous...


	3. The Disappearance

"_What happened to you Paige?" _

Paige gazed at her in astonishment. _Why is Phoebe acting so strange? Why is she looking at me like a ghost?_ She felt disorientated; she was unsure how long she had been in the stars. For although she felt like she had been floating for hours, the morning sun still streamed through the conservatory windows, making her wonder if her star lit symphony had even happened. Even as she stood there she could feel it drifting her away from, becoming less real every second.

But when Phoebe, seeing her sister's confusion, turned her to the mirror it all came back to her, like a wave of memory and emotion, more vivid and sharp than it had been even immediately after when she found herself in the attic. She gazed at herself in the glass, saw the transformation that had so shocked Phoebe. And didn't feel surprise.

Somewhere inside of her, her instinct was asking the questions she knew were important. _How was this all connected to what she had seen last night? To seeing Piper on the floor? To that strange addition to the book?_ She knew she had to tell her sisters about what had happened - they needed to check the Book of Shadows, protect Piper from the fate she had seen, prevent her nephews from losing their mom. But these thoughts were becoming distant as she focused on the eyes of her reflection, and the music she had heard before returned, encompassing her mind as it rose and fell in sweet harmony, a melody that one feels you know but could never recreate in your mind if you tried.

As she stretched her hand out to touch her reflection, Piper entered the room behind where Phoebe stood, happy in the morning sun and humming to herself a tune that had she hadn't been able to get out of her head all morning. Just in time to take in the change in Paige. And watch Paige's reflection reach out, take Paige's hand and guide her into the mirror. And disappear in a flurry of tiny lights.


	4. Where?

**The Quiet**

Both Piper and Phoebe felt dazed, the lights that had appeared before them on Paige's disappearing act had sent their heads spinning and neither of them could focus. Afterwards both would swear that they had heard a distant whisper of music, as though carried in on a breeze. Piper had moved first, as the sun outside went behind the cloud and moved the pattern of light on the mirror that seemed to be mesmerizing them both. Feeling as though she was in a dream, she noticed a lack of panic at her sister's plight.

However, when she moved around to face Phoebe and looked her in the eyes, both saw in the other the sudden realisation of what had just occurred, and both felt her head suddenly clear.

"_What was that Pheebs? Where did she just disappear to?"_

Phoebe just shook her head. As Paige had reached for the mirror, Phoebe had had a sudden empathic attachment to her sister, despite the potion Paige and Piper had taken to prevent this, and had felt an emotion she had never quite experienced before, that she couldn't quite grasp or understand. A feeling of peace, and power, yet infused with a great inner sadness and age. _"I don't know; she just orbed down like that. She didn't say anything"_

Calling for Leo, Piper moved towards the stairs, and again heard the musical murmur, which she strained to place. It was so familiar, yet so hard to capture. She knew though that somewhere she had heard it before, and somehow it may hold the key to finding her sister. Her mind raced over the last few days; the band at P3 last night, the music on the tape that she played to get Chris to sleep, the ice cream van that had stopped yesterday afternoon outside the house. _No, it wasn't any of them, what was it?_ She stopped as she recognised in it the tune that she had been singing to herself all morning, with additional decoration yes, but the basic pattern of notes remained the same. _Where had it come from?_


	5. The Entry

The sisters reached the attic just as Leo orbed in to answer their call, his blue orbs mingling with the summer sunshine. His insides inadvertently flipped when he saw Piper, glowing with the sun and new motherhood. He wished things had been sorted out between them, that he could hold her in his arms again for eternity. But he knew that the time hadn't come yet, he couldn't hurt Piper anymore, so he'd have to keep his love and own hurt locked away and continue to be there for the family whenever they needed him and stepping away if she wanted, taking hope where he could. Instead he focused his mind on the problem at hand, seeing the worry etched on the two faces he knew so well.

There was no clue as to what had occurred in what they told; the story covering Paige's alteration and her vanishing into the mirror held no significance to Leo, there was no hint of what Paige may have become, or how her reflection had reached out of the mirror to her. Instinctively the trio turned to the Book of Shadows, hoping to draw some answers from the thick pages, their feel and texture vaguely reassuring to the touch. As Phoebe touched the Book however, the pages turned rapidly, as though moved by a wind rushing through the attic, though they felt no breeze themselves, and when the leaves of the magical volume came to rest, it was open once more at the page that their younger sister had seen change the night before, the heading clear and sharp against the old paper.

"_What's The Silence? I don't remember this entry..."_

As they stood there, confused by what they saw, not understanding where the inscription had come from, the page began to glow beneath their hands and, swirling and dancing across the page in silver ink, appeared these words...

'**Quies' sumus**

**divinitatemque in nobis manis tenemus.**

**silentium nostrum est**

**aeternitatique defendatur.**

**initio temporis fiebamus**

**adque finitum erimus.**

**vobis petere nos non est.**

**cavete – deficemus.**

**silentium nostrum est**

"_Leo? What does it mean?"_

The angel began to make out the Latin, stumbling slightly here and there, for although it was expected for an Elder to know the ancient language, the time spent with his family and protecting Wyatt had prevented him from feeling at ease with it as quickly as he could have. Soon however, he could tell the expectant sisters, growing impatient with their own lack of ability to translate the script themselves, the meaning held secret there;

"_We are 'The Quiet'_

_And we hold great power in our hands._

_The Silence is ours_

_And will be protected for eternity. _

_We were made at the beginning of time_

_And will exist until the end._

_It is not for you to seek us_

_Beware – you will fail._

_The Silence is ours"_


	6. Power

Paige hadn't been able to resist the pull of the music; it had called to her, as though it had always been there waiting for her, and only had now she recognised it. The moment had come for her to reach for it. It was for her alone. All she could see were her eyes reflected in the mirror, but as she gazed they seemed to become deeper and darker, pools of shadows that could drown you, shifting as though moved by a current, inviting her in.

There was no way she could move away from her counter-self in the glass, there was a magnetism that would not let go. She had found herself instinctively reaching out to touch the glass, and had experienced no wonder or disbelief when the smooth surface had rippled before her and she felt a cool hand take hers and lead her forward.

It felt like she had been there forever, as she was welcomed by the song, like water around her, supporting her, and the stars, floating in their sea of shifting darkness. No panic this time, just contentment.

Somewhere, deep inside her, impossible for her to take hold of, yet present on the edge of her thoughts was a tiny acknowledgement of the life she had left, the world of sun and movement, where she had a role to fill, something urgent to tell. But it was growing smaller by the second, as she felt no need to discover what it was, unconsciously letting go of her being and embracing the destiny that seemed as though it had been waiting for eternity. Soon she had no knowledge beyond the stars, no knowledge besides the music that obeyed her and her role to protect.


	7. What Now?

Phoebe was leant over the table, a crystal dangling from her hand, sending rainbows on to the walls of the attic, as she tried to scry for her sister. Again and again, she sent the gem spinning over the map, again and again failing to locate her, the stone just whirling round and round. Across the room, Piper had returned to the Book of Shadows where she had been turning page after page trying to find another reference to The Silence, or The Quiet, anything to help them. But they remained elusive and shadowy, there was no recognition of their existence anywhere.

As Leo orbed into the room, both sisters instantly looked up. One look at his face and the Halliwells knew that the information the Elders had been able to give about the mysterious inscription was not good. They were silent as the angel told everything he had been told.

The Quiet were a group of ageless beings, who had been made to protect The Silence at the very start of time, when the boundaries and forms of magic were being set out by great powers. The Silence; the precious entity they must protect, a moment in time that occurred once a month; never on the same day, never at the same time of day, or for the same length, so that no mortal or magical being could find it. For in those minutes the magic of the world, both good and evil, was released, and allowed to breath, to prevent its power boiling over and upsetting the universe's balance. Any being who experiences The Silence could tap into the magic; learn about the deeper and darker magic that runs underneath everything else, a magic even the Elders could not comprehend. Its protection was vital to all.

Leo continued.

Paige must have inadvertently disturbed The Silence that night, her instinct roused by the magic in the air, for that night had been the most important and powerful occurrence of The Silence in many years. And by the rules set down to govern The Quiet, she must join them to protect the secret. The Quiet floated through time and space, instinctively knowing when their charge was in danger. They never communicated with each other, they had no need. Instead each one of The Quiet controlled their own music, personal to them alone, heard by them alone, through which they could act to protect The Silence, as their music held their magic.

The girls sat still, numbed by what they had been told. Each one had been silently assessing the situation as Leo had talked and had realized the difficulties they faced. Even if they wished to try and become a one of The Quiet themselves to rescue Paige, The Silence could not be discovered, and would not occur again for a while; neither were willing to abandon Paige for that length of time. And Leo also warned that Paige would have no memory of her life before becoming one of The Quiet, the power of the magic they held would banish any recollection. It seemed a helpless situation, as The Quiet had warned; _It is not for you to seek us, Beware – you will fail._


	8. Music

Finally, Phoebe spoke up, her voice unusually quiet and strained,

"_How can they justify breaking up the Charmed Ones though? We're needed."_

She was thinking of the Cleaners, the way they had pressurized them by reminding them how important the Charmed Ones were for good, and how without them the balance of good and evil would be drastically swung, to the detriment of all. Leo shook his head, looking suddenly world-weary. The Quiet weren't like the Cleaners, an entity the girls could face and argue with. Only on very rare occasions had any members of The Quiet been seen; they could not be summoned, it was their choice if they wished to encounter any 'normal' magical individual. They were powerful, more powerful than the Halliwells could even imagine, created by the one great power who had created all. There was no way that Phoebe and Piper could manipulate this situation in the way they had done before.

Piper suddenly stood up and moving across the room quickly took up the scrying crystal that Phoebe had dropped on Leo's arrival. For she had suddenly realized that the tune she had been humming that morning was Paige's personal music, that the power held by the Charmed Ones must have allowed it to infiltrate her mind as well. And surely, if Paige's music was unique to her alone, then maybe Piper could use it to scry for her. And then perhaps they could convince her that she was needed with them; she could make The Quiet see that she would keep the secret and convince them to allow her to return.

But as she came to the map she realized the flaw in her idea. Where would she scry for Paige? For Leo had said that Paige was floating in time and space, there was no way any map could cover that. The sudden rush of hope, now snatched away, had left Piper feeling even more helpless and desolate. She was not prepared to lose her sister; they had gone through too much to rescue Wyatt to be broken up now.

Leo ached as he saw the pain of Piper, as though it was his own heart breaking again. He wished he could comfort her, hold her and never let go, tell her it would all be okay. Instinctively his hand moved to her shoulder, but he didn't touch her, leaving it hovering over her for a second, before moving it quickly away again. Instead he turned to Phoebe; his mind turning again and again, trying to find any idea that could offer them both a flicker of hope. And it came.

"_Wait, Piper you're right, I think we **can** use Paige's music to find her"_

For Phoebe was an empath, and her younger sister's emotions were now intrinsically connected to the music that surrounded her. If Phoebe could use her empathy power to find Piper in an alternate universe, Leo had no doubt that she could use it to find Paige this way, to focus on Paige through the snippet of music Piper had. None of them dared think about a plan beyond this; this was their only glimmer of hope, as Phoebe nervously took Piper's and Leo's hands, listening intently to her sister hum the tune that was hopefully the key to bringing Paige home, and finding that she too instinctively knew the pattern of notes.

As the trio focused all their energy on the song, they suddenly felt a wind whipping around them, there was a burst of light, and then ... nothing.


End file.
